Recently I have been in the middle of an interesting conflict at my day-job. One of my employees came up an amazing way to use models to help manage projects which has been a goal of our senior leaders for many years. He's briefed his work to government executives and military leaders, but there are some who are still very cautious of the claims he makes. Bluntly, their work scares him because they don't totally understand it. You see, even though they've been asking for this type of work for years, they never actually stopped to ask what that might look like. Now that they're seeing what they've been asking for, it scares them.
What an amazing metaphor for how God works. It's easy to say "I want revival in our church!" and "I want unity in our believers!" or even "I want a church body sold-out for Christ!"... but I wonder how many people who repeat these phrases have actually stopped to imagine what that might look like?
Christ himself spoke about this tendency. He tried to warn his followers who seen and experienced God's greatness but rejected it because it looked different than they expected. Maybe the messiah didn't fit their mental mold.
"To what should I compare this generation? It's like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to other children: We play the flute for you, but you didn't dance; we sang a lament, but you didn't mourn! For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon!' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds." (Matthew 11:16-19)
Something I speak about frequently in my sermons, devotions, and other public posts is how I do not doubt that the mainstream church today would look at a scripturally driven church as a spectacle or an oddity. What Jesus is speaking about here is exactly where I get this notion. When David Platt, whom I may have mentioned once or twice before, showed up to the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama, he had a series of expectations for the congregation that fundamentally changed how they operated. They were the same legal entity they were before and met in the same facility, but their hearts were totally transformed by what Platt sought to do in restructuring their focus on mission work and ministry.
This is where many of us find ourselves today. Whether our individual paths lead us to stay where we are, move on to another congregational body, or to plant a church with The Well, we are focused on glorifying God. That means that we are not focused on simply standing up an institution. We are not focused on forging or sustaining a legacy. We are not focused on simply living a life vaguely inspired by the teachings of Christ so that we can meet society's expectations of "a Christian body". Rather, we are living for a calling to love others, to serve the poor, to bring aid to the oppressed and dejected, and to spread the glorious news of Jesus Christ.
All institutions who profess to act and serve in the name of Jesus Christ need to be prepared to look different. This may mean confronting uncomfortable tendencies. This may mean thinking outside the box and leaving the security of "what we've always done". This may even mean spreading out from where we've always called home to serve in new places and in new ways. This is where we must come to terms with the fact that our comfort, our security, and our unity exists in the name of Jesus Christ, not in the institutions of man.
I would normally end this devotion there, but let me add this: It is easy to simply exist as a church and even easier to exist as a church when you have the benefit of decades or centuries of heritage. When you want to start a new church, it's easy for someone to dismiss the calling by either saying it's unnecessary, it's merely about emotions and egos, or any other type of trivial explanation. However, I look at the reality we live in and don't see how someone can claim the status quo works. This region (mainly speaking about the 22427 zip code) has around 3,200-3,300 residents. It also has almost 20 different churches or faith communities. That means that each church would only have to reach out to 200 people (actually, a hair less) and the entire area would be met with all the physical, emotional, and spiritual support they could ask for. Despite this, I look at the trailer park by the county dump and I've never seen a church doing services out there. I look at the housing across from the Food Lion and I don't see any churches playing with the kids in the summer. I look at every place that Christ himself would go and I see churches doing their darndest to just stick their heads in the sand, hold a VBS or other traditional event, do another bake-sale for missions, then move on their happy way pretending like they're meeting their mission as a reflection of Jesus Christ.
Until "the church" starts learning to put down their brass offering plates and instead embraces a man with leprosy, we're simply pretending to be the thing we talk about on Sundays and nothing more. I'm sure when we all stand before our Creator in eternity, he'll be impressed that we played the part so well.
(Yes, I'm wound up right now.)
Brothers and sisters, this is not the church as it was meant to be. There are churches doing good work, but not nearly enough. My prayer is that we can set the example and be a catalyst for others, to go to the places and spend time with the people others do not want to address, and truly be a light of Christ to all. Let's stop talking about how much we love Jesus and actually start loving Jesus... and let's do that by loving "the least of these". The lost world is crying for something different than suit-wearing Christians in cathedrals.
DEVOTIONAL PRAYER
A Prayer for Genuineness
God, help us to not be a shallow reflection of what you called us to be. Convict us to our cores... to the point of tears... that there is a lost and dying world surrounding us. Fill us with pure love and joy when we are able to tire for your glory. Give us a desire to change and treat our own comfort as nothing. We desire you and you alone for ourselves, for our church, and for our community. Help us to wear the badge of a zealot proudly even if it requires us to humble ourselves. Thank you for the tremendous blessings you continue to show us each and every day. Amen.
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